The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Long, hard road to opening of bypass
It’s been a long road to the completion of the Aberdeen bypass.
A new road around the city was considered as early as the 1950s.
In 2005 the thentransport minister Nicol Stephen gives approval for the dualling of A90 between Balmedie and Tipperty at cost of £35 million. Then further details of a proposed 28mile stretch of road were announced at an estimated cost of £395m.
A public inquiry was launched in 2008 and the road was given the goahead at a later date.
However, two years later a formal legal challenge was launched by community group RoadSense objecting to environmental factors holding up the project.
The challenge was rejected after being debated in the courts in 2012.
It was hoped the road would open in Spring 2018.
The AWPR hit its largest bump in the road when Carillon collapsed at the beginning of this year.
The Scottish Government pushed back the proposed completion date to late autumn, blaming the weather, Storm Frank and Carillion’s liquidation.
Pressure began mounting on transport bosses for the completion date last month.
Peter Chapman, Scottish Conservative MSP for the north-east, wrote to Transport Secretary Michael Matheson to provide answers, claiming he was seeking “clarity”.